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If you just go by specs, the Mongoose is very similar in size to a Mantis and about 4 inches shorter in height than a Mamba. I have very little time on a Mantis, so can't really comment on a comparison to it. I do have a fair amount of time on my Mamba and the Mongoose is more forgiving, builds up speed less quickly and tricks a bit quicker. They both track very well.

Build Quality: Ken McNeillPanel Layout: 18 panels (same as the Mamba) but with a bold "lightning bolt" cutting throught the "normal" panels (I have already spent too much time with the colorizer for this one)

The first time I flew the Mongoose was Friday night in low wind. There were 3 kites in the air at the time:1 Talon UL2 Vendetta UL (incorrectly originally stated as WM UL)3 Mongoose std

Yesindeedy, the Mongoose with that Nitro frame exposes a lot of rigid sail and was flying gracefully in UL conditions. The Mongoose has a fairly long spine which must act as an excellent stabilizer, as there are no standoffs near the wingtips to add tracking as on the Mamba.

First and foremost, this kite is meant to fly. It feels a bit like the offspring of the AirFX and Mamba. Certainly a worthy heritage. I found myself wanting to practice my lines and figures, which have really deteriorated over the last several years.

Tricks:

The question on all you flippers and floppers on the Forum. I flew the kite with stock bridle, no yoyo stoppers and 2 of the 4 tail weights. This is not a jerk-and-watch-it-do-something-kite. The set up needs to be more deliberate and the lines tended more throughout the trick. It's almost more of flying the kite through the trick with just enough slack to get it through some transitions.

I was able to do a few roll-ups and unwind from the over rotated Jacob's Ladder entry. The kite does barrel-rolls instead of backspins. Darren did some Comete cycles on it. They were slow enough to recognize each input, which I liked. The kite will easily do 1 or 2 pop cascades slowly. In fact all tricks are done at a leisurely pace where you can watch what is happening. The timing is very different than a Talon type kite.

Hopefully Darren can add to this aspect as he is a much better trickster than myself.

New Trick:

Darren did it once, but we didn't know what happened at the time. I've done it twice since then. On the 2nd occasion I flew the Mongoose, winds were around 8 mph and I figured out what Darren had accidentally done that was so cool. The trick works better on lines under 100 feet and close to the ground. Basically it's a fairly flat axel to rolled-up position. I've never seen it before, although I'm sure one of you experts has done it.

1 Get the Mongoose close to the ground.2 Start an axel, but keep the lines tended closely3 As the wingtip comes around toward you4 Bring the lines above the wingtip5 Let the Mongoose continue around to finish the axel6 As the nose points toward you7 Raise the nose of the kite between the lines8 You now have a rolled-up kite with a twist in the lines to help keep the lines near the nose, which helps since this kite had no yoyo stoppers.

I did it twice, on purpose, once I figured out what had happened to Darren. It's very cool and should allow kites that don't yoyo to get into a wound up flying position.

I'm open to comments on this trick as it is new to me.

Conclusion:

If you want a great flying, well built custom kite that will do tricks slowly and on purpose, this will fit the bill perfectly. It does not hand out tricks, but it will reward you with them when done the way it wants them done.

I'm looking forward to more time on it as this kite demands more of a learning curve in the tricks department. As far as flying, my lines and corners are coming back.

I saw several barrel-rolls during the vid and wish I could trick like that, but I didn't see any backspins.

I guess you mean the backspins aren't flat - even the flattest looking BS isn't really that flat when you see it from the side. Generally people don't worry too much about how flat they are these days Blame the French influence on kiting but its not like one line is locked onto the LE.

I've always felt a True BS had the kites wings rotating around on a horizontal plane, that is the nose will rotate 360 degrees pointing away from you half way through the trick, much like a Lazy Susan but started nose toward you. The Tricks Party definiton places the lines on top of the wing throughout so the kite can't roll over.

I figured a Barrel Roll has the wings rotating around the spine, the nose will remain pointed at you throughout the trick. But the Tricks Party definition of a Barrel Roll is only half a rotation, being similar to the the last movement in a Jacobs Ladder.

Since the Tricks Party definition of the Backspin continues after the definition to include the Barrel Roll as a backspin although it is a completely different trick by their own definition nothing makes any sense to me.

Logged

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

There was some mention of the Mongoose flying more comfortably than the Exile over 8-10 mph. From what John's written, it doesn't sound like it flies like the Exile though. (I was flying my Exile yesterday in just about nothing and it didn't seem to mind my sloppy inputs; the Mongoose seems to need good flying technique. Right?)

There was some mention of the Mongoose flying more comfortably than the Exile over 8-10 mph. From what John's written, it doesn't sound like it flies like the Exile though. (I was flying my Exile yesterday in just about nothing and it didn't seem to mind my sloppy inputs; the Mongoose seems to need good flying technique. Right?)

So my question is this: Is it a better alternative to the Exile?

My understanding is that the Mongoose, was more in line with the Mantis/Muse line, then the Exile.

Steve Tapp, impression of the kite was that it flew like a full size Exile.

One of Ken's intention with the Mongoose was to have a kite, that could fly in higher then normal winds for a Blue Moon Kite. A desire that many of us share.

The Mongoose is full size like the Mantis/Muse and correspondingly slower paced in overall speed and tricks than smaller kites. It speeds up less then its brethren as the wind increases which is nice, especially for figures. Precision is right up there with the Mamba/Mantis.

It will fly up to around 18 or so before being overpowered and starting to bend those Nitro spreaders There is room for a vent in the lineup

The comfortable tricking wind range is subject to flier

The Mongoose is not a yank and spank trick kite. None of Ken's kites are; just don't tell Devin that Tricks are slower and more deliberate in line with it's overall feel. Tricks are just as accessible as the Exile and in many ways a bit more accessible than the Mantis.

I think the Mongoose does the Mantis one better on being an excellent all rounder and I have two full sets of Mantids.

The Mongoose does not replace the Exile which is smaller and while similar, they do have different personalities, I like them both.

It will be fun to fly the Mongoose and Exile side by side and compare notes.

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